For 2002, I'm done with bad credit!

Great resolution. Good Luck. I'll be cheering for you.

 

Andrew...good luck! Things will turn out really well for you. Don't claim or accept the negativity or it will just be yours.

 

All the best of luck to you with your vow to better your credit. I'm too vowing to make big steps to better my credit in the future years to come. I'm currently at 679 on the charts. I was down in the 500s back in May of 2001.

 

Andrew - Count me in, too. I feel the same way. I am in the mid-500's and I, too, pay a hefty interest rate for my car loan. Good luck to you.

 

Don't trash Cap1 yet. they've been by far the easiest to work from subprime, to reasonable, to outright amazing prime

First, I don't know how long you've had the card, but if it's over 6 mos old, call and ask for a credit line increase. they'll likely give you 300. ask for a regular supervisor to override it and give you more. If you've been good with them you can get 500, 700, or 1000 from a regular supervisor. if you can't talk with a regular supervisor (or can't talk them into it) then call and talk with retention.

to get to retention call back and say you want to close your account. they'll transfer you. tell them you're tired of your puny credit line and expensive interest rate. see what they can do.

If the person says no, again ask for a supervisor.

No matter what you do or don't get, then fire off a letter via www.planetfeedback.com. you'll get an email within several days from Cap1's exec dept

Call them and you can likely get a really decent interest rate and maybe even a better line of credit. If you have a reason, let them do a balance transfer from another card. If you're at over 20% you can easily get to 17.9, then 15.9, then 13.9, and then 11.9 and eventually 9.9 for life.

After you've gotten your credit line increased and your interest rate bettered, call every 2 months or so and talk with retention. It's about a 1/3 calls shot that you'll get something but it's worth calling. that's how I got my interest rate down quickly. The exec dept helps more on line increases but will normally drop the interest rate a point or 2 for good measure.

Open another cap1 card, work it up or combine them. Trust me, even if you get a bad 300 card with monthly fees, take it and then bug retention about the fees. I got mine rebated 3-4 months in a row and then they just gave up and took it all off.

 

Need your opinion: Would you call this good:

My cl is 300.00. 0% APR for 6 months. I maxed the card out in a month or so. Did not go over the limit, make the minimum payments on time (usually a week or two early, mail payment time I get hte statement).

Thinking that they will think that I willbe likely to carry a balance and therefore a moneymaker for them plus I always pay on time. What do you think? Am I in a good situation for a cl increase when the account hits 6 months?

 

I agree with Marie about not thrashing capital one. No matter how many prime cards I get, I will always keep their card. When i was down and out and no one will finance a stick of gum for me, there were there. They have been great from the get go and I will never forget that. So long as they continue to be fair and easy to work with, they have a customer for life.

Btw, Marie, thank you very much for all you have done for us on this board. I found your posts to be very insightful and straight to the point. I owe a great deal of my success to you.

 

I agree. Keep Capital One! I went from a small start-up line to a 9.9% Platinum Card with a very generous credit line.

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